http://www.sleepandinsomnia.com/Images/SleepAndInsomnia-hm.jpg

你可能真的需要将睡眠列入日常生活中必须履行的事了，睡一夜好觉可能是最精明的健康选择之一。当你缩减每晚应睡的7-8个小时时，你的健康危险可能就不仅仅是白天打打瞌睡那么简单了，睡眠太少或睡眠质量太差可能会影响机体的心血管、内分泌、免疫及神经系统等。大约有五千到七千万的美国人患有睡眠紊乱症—失眠或打鼾，影响到日常生活并有损于健康。请参阅以下有关的研究：

1．少睡意味着多肥。根据2006年度医学研究所的报告，对那些每晚睡眠少于7个小时的人来说，睡得越少，肥胖的可能性就越大。相关的研究发现，睡眠不足似乎能诱使饥饿激素释放发生紊乱。抑制食欲的激素—瘦素（Leptin）降低，刺激食欲的激素—胖素（ghrelin）增高。

2．你更易选吃不健康食品：本周发表在《临床睡眠医学杂志》研究发现，患有阻塞性睡眠打鼾或其他严重睡眠呼吸紊乱的人更易选吃高胆固醇、蛋白质、全脂和全饱和脂肪的餐食。女性更易受此影响。

3. 更易患糖尿病和糖尿病前期出现的糖耐量受损：2005年《内科医学进展》杂志发表的一项研究表明，每晚睡5个小时以下者患糖尿病的机率是常人的2.5倍，而睡6个小时以下者是1.7倍。

4．心脏担受风险：2003年的研究发现，每晚睡5个小时以下的妇女比睡得多的妇女罹患心脏病发作的机率高45%。

5．血压可能升高：举例来说，阻塞性睡眠打鼾的人与昼间持续血压升高有关。并且打鼾越重，血压升高越明显。2006年的IOM 报告提示，肥胖既使打鼾加重又使血压升高，因此，减肥可以降低相关的健康危险。

6．交通事故增加：根据2007美国《新英格兰医学杂志》报道，除了酒醉驾车以外，接近20%的严重的撞车受伤与驾车人打瞌睡有关。

7．失衡摔跤：根据2007年《老年科杂志》报道的研究发现，老年人入睡困难者，不管是夜间醒来还是白天仍然嗜睡，发生摔倒的机率较正常者高2-4.5倍。

8．更易患抑郁症：患慢性呼吸道阻塞的成年人据报道更易患精神压抑、抑郁症和酗酒。青少年亦是如此：对高中生的普查也发现其有与上述疾病类似的高发病率。初中生也报道有更多的抑郁症状和自信心低下。

9．儿童可有更多行为问题：在今年4月刊《儿科和青少年医学进展》的研究发现，罹受失眠、睡眠惊醒和呼吸紊乱之苦并伴发肥胖的儿童，更易出现行为问题比如注意力不集中和多动症。

10．距离黄泉不远：根据发表在《睡眠杂志》和《综合精神科进展》的三个大样本人群的研究发现， 那些每夜睡眠不足5小时的人，不管死因如何，均比正常人的死亡机率高15%。

10 Reasons Not to Skimp on Sleep

By Sarah Baldauf

Posted October 16, 2008 U.S. News & World Report

You may literally have to add it to your to-do list, but scheduling a good night's sleep could be one of the smartest health priorities you set. It's not just daytime drowsiness you risk when shortchanging yourself on your seven to eight hours. Possible health consequences of getting too little or poor sleep can involve the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems. In addition to letting life get in the way of good sleep, between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder—insomnia or sleep apnea, say—that affects daily functioning and impinges on health. Consider the research:

1) Less may mean more. For people who sleep under seven hours a night, the fewer zzzz's they get, the more obese they tend to be, according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report. This may relate to the discovery that insufficient sleep appears to tip hunger hormones out of whack. Leptin, which suppresses appetite, is lowered; ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, gets a boost.

2) You're more apt to make bad food choices. A study published this week in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that people with obstructive sleep apnea or other severely disordered breathing while asleep ate a diet higher in cholesterol, protein, total fat, and total saturated fat. Women were especially affected.

3) Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance, its precursor, may become more likely. A 2005 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people getting five or fewer hours of sleep each night were 2.5 times more likely to be diabetic, while those with six hours or fewer were 1.7 times more likely.

4) The ticker is put at risk. A 2003 study found that heart attacks were 45 percent more likely in women who slept for five or fewer hours per night than in those who got more.

5) Blood pressure may increase. Obstructive sleep apnea, for example, has been associated with chronically elevated daytime blood pressure, and the more severe the disorder, the more significant the hypertension, suggests the 2006 IOM report. Obesity plays a role in both disorders, so losing weight can ease associated health risks.

6) Auto accidents rise. As stated in a 2007 report in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly 20 percent of serious car crash injuries involve a sleepy driver—and that's independent of alcohol use.

7) Balance is off. Older folks who have trouble getting to sleep, who wake up at night, or are drowsy during the day could be 2 to 4.5 times more likely to sustain a fall, found a 2007 study in the Journal of Gerontology.

8) You may be more prone to depression. Adults who chronically operate on fumes report more mental distress, depression, and alcohol use. Adolescents suffer, too: One survey of high school students found similarly high rates of these issues. Middle schoolers, too, report more symptoms of depression and lower self-esteem.

9) Kids may suffer more behavior problems. Research from an April issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that children who are plagued by insomnia, short duration of sleeping, or disordered breathing with obesity, for example, are more likely to have behavioral issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

10) Death's doorstep may be nearer. Those who get five hours or less per night have approximately 15 percent greater risk of dying—regardless of the cause—according to three large population-based studies published in the journals Sleep and the Archives of General Psychiatry.